RCMP watching highway on

Labour Day efforts the first of many initiatives to make Sea to Sky safer

The Sea to Sky Highway
will be busy over the Labour Day weekend, but anyone trying to push the pace is
going to come face to face with RCMP officers.

The Sea to Sky Traffic
Services is launching an initiative to make Highway 99 one of the safest
highways in the world. Working with officers from the Lower Mainland Integrated
Road Safety Unit and the West Vancouver Police Department, they will focus
their attention in hot spots (high crash locations) from Lions Bay to
Pemberton. The plan is to target aggressive and impaired drivers as well as
unbelted occupants.

“We’re tired of seeing
the senseless crashes that happen as a result of a few people driving like
they’re in a Nascar Race,” said Cst. Dave Babineau of RCMP Traffic Services in
B.C. “This highway is safe as long as you drive it the way it was meant to be
driven. If you were to look back at the fatal or serious injury crashes that
have shut down Highway 99 over the last number of years you would find that
aggressive driving (passing on double solid lines, tailgating, driving too fast
for conditions, etc.) and impaired driving are the main factors in these
collisions. That tells me they’re avoidable. Driving aggressively and driving
while impaired are choices — bad choices that affect everyone.”

The Sea to Sky Traffic
Services is committed to road safety and vows that this weekend’s efforts are
merely the first of many such initiatives. The enforcement styles for this and
future projects will vary from traditional (marked police cars and uniformed
officers) to unconventional (plain clothes, unmarked police cars,
unconventional vehicles). The goal is to do whatever it takes to keep the road
users safe and the highway open.

Through education and
enforcement police are convinced the number of serious crashes will be
drastically reduced, and that is the ultimate goal — saving lives.

The crackdown on the Sea
to Sky Highway this weekend is part of a province-wide traffic enforcement
effort by RCMP and local police forces. They advise drivers to plan ahead,
including allowing enough to time to reach destinations with the increased
congestion that is part of a long weekend. They also urge drivers to ensure every
occupant is properly wearing their seatbelt, to drive defensively and to avoid
alcohol if driving.

“The B.C. day long
weekend is proof that together we can make roads safe,” Babineau said. “There
were no traffic deaths related to alcohol, aggressive driving or unbelted
deaths the entire weekend. This on a weekend that historically has been one of
the worst.

“Drivers must take
personal responsibility for their own safety and the safety of the people
traveling with them,” Babineau added. “Make the right choices — you will
be safer and the number of traffic deaths will be reduced not only on long
weekends but every day.”

RCMP also remind drivers
that school zone speed limits are back in effect on Tuesday.